LOS ANGELES — Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey are the new Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre.
Not in terms of career longevity or accomplishments, mind you. But McGregor and Rousey have undoubtedly replaced Silva and GSP as the twin engines powering the UFC’s pay-per-view machine.
And McGregor knows it.
McGregor, whose UFC 189 fight against Chad Mendes is believed to have drawn about 825,000 PPV buys, pointed out Wednesday that neither Silva, the longest reigning champ in UFC history, nor St-Pierre, the longtime welterweight champ, pulled such numbers by age 26, as McGregor did. And he threw Floyd Mayweather into the conversation for good measure.
“As far as them searching for stars, since Georges and Anderson (left), bring Georges and Anderson back,” McGregor said Wednesday. “Do you think they’re on this level? Do you think at 26 years of age, they had all these records, all these numbers? Not even Floyd was 26 and drawing these numbers.”
For the record, at age 26, Silva competed in Japan’s Shooto promotion; St-Pierre had already won and lost the UFC welterweight title for the first time; and Mayweather fought in such locales as Fresno, Calif., and Grand Rapids, Mich.
“I have the game in the palm of my hand, and I know it, and they know it, and they know I know it,” McGregor none-too-humbly said. “So, it’s interesting times. Life is good.”